How is the Big Five related to college students' anxiety: The role of rumination and resilience

This study explored the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, rumination, resilience, and anxiety in a sample of Chinese undergraduates (N = 323) from a cross-sectional perspective. Results showed that neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness significantly predicted anxiety of college students and that rumination mediated the association between neuroticism and anxiety, and between agreeableness and anxiety. In addition, resilience had a significant moderating effect on neuroticism and rumination, agreeableness and anxiety. Overall, higher level of resilience led to less rumination and anxiety in individuals with low neuroticism and high agreeableness, but there were adverse effects in those with high neuroticism and low agreeableness. This study is valuable to understand the complex mechanisms of the relationship between personality traits and anxiety and provides a direction for reducing anxiety of college students.